You certainly
wouldn't use an auto body grinder to polish your silver, so why are
you using products that could do similar damage? It's because they
remove tarnish at light speed, right? Well, it's time to stop ruining
your sterling and silver-plated objects and start treating them with
the love and respect they deserve. Below are the results of products
tested in my workshop for tarnish removal. There are currently NO
silver polishes on the market that are non-abrasive, though, many
proclaim to be.

See how your
polish rates among many others  you may be VERY surprised!

Non-Abrasive
Cleaners

Occasionally cleaning an object
is preferred to waiting until heavy tarnish forms and polishes have
to be employed. (All polishes have some degree of abrasion.) You can
catch tarnish in its earliest stage if you hold an object next
to a piece of white paper. If tarnish has started to form, you
will see a very light yellowish tint on the silver. Try removing this
light tarnish with either diluted Dawn Dishwashing Liquid
(citrus-free) on a cellulose sponge, a 100% plant-based glass cleaner
like Better Life Natural Glass Cleaner (my personal favorite), or
aloe-free hand sanitizer on a cotton ball, makeup pad, or cotton
towel. If the hand sanitizer leaves a residue, rinse it off with warm
water or remove it with a moistened cotton towel, then dry
immediately. If water doesn't work, use the glass cleaner. Try this
technique first as it will remove absolutely no metal. Try using this
glass cleaner on your jewelry and other metal objects as well.

Below is a Tiffany sterling bowl
that was cleaned with Better Life Natural Glass Cleaner (right). If
tarnish remains use one of the Least Abrasive Silver Polishes in the
next section.

Least
Abrasive Silver Polishes

IMPORTANT!When
removing tarnish, always invest more time using one of the least
abrasive silver polishes in this section over getting quicker results
with a more abrasive silver polish. Ninety-nine percent (99%) of
tarnish removed from silver I work on is accomplished with either
Blitz Silver Shine Polish or Herman's Simply Clean Collectors Silver Polish.

If you are using a
moist cellulose sponge with any of the above polishes and have
difficulty removing tarnish, use
a large cotton ball or cotton makeup pad with the smallest amount of
polish necessary. Rotate the ball or pad regularly to expose unused
surfaces. This will compress the polish and work more
quickly. You can see me using the dry cotton ball technique on these Revere
pieces.

If I had used
Blitz Silver Shine Polish on the tray below, the polished side would
look a bit glossier because of its tarnish-protective ingredient).
Blitz is my favorite polish with a tarnish inhibitor because of it's
application options.

*
If none of the above products work, contact
me. Do NOT use
any of the products below!

WARNING!Severely
Abrasive Polishes & Dips  Do Not Use on Silver!

The below products
are so agressive they may even cut through silver plate to the base
metal. Some are as abrasive as 0000 steel wool  seriously! And
many of these products are not earth-friendy.

ALL
products that have "metal polish" in their name are much
too harsh. Oxidized brass, copper, and especially
aluminum require greater abrasion for successful results. Silver
requires its own special polish to
more gently accomplish this job. Stay away from the following
products (this is a partial list):

Though ketchup is
not abrasive and does remove very light tarnish, it is extremely
acidic and may gradually etch and dull silver. You will then have to
use one of the polishes above to brighten the surface and
machine-polish the etching away.

Chemical
Tarnish
Removers
(These are just a few of the products that will absolutely ruin the
original finish on solid silver and silver-plate. They also allow
tarnish to form more quickly.) Read about these dips here.

Regarding ketchup:
Though it's non-abrasive and does remove very light tarnish, ketchup
is extremely acidic and may gradually etch and dull copper. You will
then have to use one of the polishes below to brighten the surface.
The polishes below are not meant to be used on lacquered copper!